Coming Home
by DarylDixon'sgirl1985
Summary: When Sirius Black went through the veil to his death in the Department of Mysteries he never thought he'd be reunited with his brother again. But he is and he plans on telling Regulus what he should have years ago. But will he earn Regulus forgiveness and the right to go home?


**Hey everyone. This story was brought to you by Culinary Arts assignment, Insane prompt List, Ultimate Battle Competition, Take a Prompt - Leave a Prompt, Our Tangled Webs, Hogwarts Bingo Party, and The House That Dobby Built on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. **

**Culinary Arts: Pasta assignment: Task 7 Capellia d'angelo - Write an afterlife!AU**

**Insane Prompt List: 756. (AU) Afterlife**

**Ultimate Battle Competition: Gladiator Sword Price: 500 words, a battle or duel **

**Take a Prompt - Leave a Prompt: Black Lake (Bonus)**

**Our Tangled Webs: Regulus/Sirius (platonic) **

**Hogwarts Bingo Party: I1 Sirius Black**

**The House That Dobby Built: (settings) Great/Black Lake**

**Warning for character death and Afterlife!AU. I'd like to thank secretfanficlover for beta reading for me. Thank you so much for your help. Word count is 1,000 words. I hope you all enjoy Coming Home. **

The sounds of spells being fired mixed with the sound of his pounding heart as Sirius charged towards where his godson stood in the Department of Mysteries. He should have known something like this was going to happen. For some or other reason trouble always seemed to follow Harry around. Not that Sirius didn't use to get into trouble himself in his younger years. He and his friends had gotten themselves into a fair bit of trouble in their teen years. Just never anything could potentially get them all killed. Like this.

Harry was facing off against Sirius's cousin, Bellatrix, and another Death Eater at the time Sirius approached. He could see that the confrontation was going to take a turn for the worst, so, he stepped in. Trading quips with Malfoy; who was the Death Eater he'd seen with his cousin, and Bellatrix herself.

The spells were fired quick and fast. He wasn't at all surprised that Harry could keep pace not just with himself but also with the Death Eaters. He smiled over at Harry after a particularly good block.

"Good one, James," he called out, seeing more of James in Harry than he'd ever seen before. Harry's look at being called his father's name both made Sirius proud, and sad at the same time.

"I'm not…" Harry began.

"I know. We'll talk about it later."

* * *

But later would never come. Bellatrix got the better of him. He doesn't know how or when that had happened, but it did. He's pressed back towards the damned veil. He wishes that he was pressed back towards anything else. He'd heard rumors about what the veil did to those that went through it, but they were only rumors. Rumors couldn't hurt you.

Feeling the brush of fabric against his elbow, he turns and fires off a quip to Harry with a laugh. The last laugh he'd ever laugh. He doesn't hear the spell that kills him but he does feel the impact of it on his body. Pushing him back through the veil like a ragdoll and into the brightness of a light that would ordinarily make anyone go blind.

The sounds of battle in the Department of Mysteries die down as he feels himself falling through the air. He knows he is not really falling through air, but as far as he can tell that's the sensation he's going through. He doesn't know how long he'd been falling for when he crashed to the ground with a bone jarring impact.

"You shouldn't move right away," an all too familiar voice tells him. He hadn't heard the voice in years."It can be quite jarring to move after the landing you just had."

Looking up and around himself to spot where the voice is coming from, he realizes he knows the landscape of this place. It's all very familiar. It's the shores of the Black Lake at Hogwarts. He'd come here many times with his best mates James, Remus, and, even that rat, Peter. He could even see the Giant Squid swimming to the surface of the lake to say hello.

That's when he catches sight of him. The owner of the voice, and it's exactly who he thought it was, Regulus. He was standing not too far away from him, looking much the same as the last time he'd seen his little brother. His long mane of black hair looked just as shaggy as Sirius's used to be when he was younger. His grey eyes that could reveal exactly how he was feeling a calm gentle grey, like the sky after a thunderstorm.

"Regulus?" Sirius asked in shock. "Is it really you?"

"It's me, brother," Regulus said, walking over to close the distance between them. "I'm sorry you had to come here like this."

"Where is here?"

"Where does it look like to you?"

"Why did you answer a question with a question?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Regulus smiled, the first one he'd given his brother in a long time. "You can't tell me the surroundings aren't familiar to you? It's the one place we both felt safe as children."

"Hogwarts," they both said in unison.

Sirius had never thought that Regulus had ever felt anything but safe in their own home. He did, after all, go along with everything their parents had ever asked him to do. But looking at him now, Sirius could see the frightened boy his brother must have been when he died. He'd never thought about what his brother was going through during that time. To be honest, he'd only been thinking of himself and doing what he had wanted to do at the time.

"Regulus," Sirius sighed tiredly, watching his brother watch him.

"What, Siri?" Regulus asked using the old nickname they used to use when they were children and no more the wiser about the goings on of the world.

"I'm sorry." He broke down into tears and pulled his brother into a hug. "I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you like a good big brother should have been. But most of all, I'm sorry you're here way earlier than you should have been."

Regulus stared in shock for a moment or two at seeing his usually good natured, fun loving brother break down like that. Then after a moment or two he gently pulled Sirius into the first hug the two had had since their parents first started to push them apart.

"It's okay, Siri." He looked towards the lake for a second as the sun began to sink towards the horizon. Then turned towards the castle. "Let's go home. The others are waiting for us."

"Let's go home, Reg," Sirius said with a nod.

As they walked hand in hand towards the castle that each brother had always considered home, they both took in each others presence. It had been far too long for each of them but now they had all the time in the world.

**I hope you all enjoyed Coming Home as much as I enjoyed writing it. **


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